TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2019 (2) TMI 2098
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....dent no.1 and pending before a Division Bench of CAT at Nainital. 3. The respondent no.1, an Indian Forest service officer of the Uttarakhand cadre of 2002 Batch was posted as Deputy Secretary at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi from 29.6.2012 till 28.6.2016. 4. The said post of Deputy Secretary was created with the approval of the Department of Expenditure, inter alia, to coordinate and manage infrastructure projects and ensure their timely completion, to exercise management and control of the Institute and to coordinate with Multi Disciplinary Experts. 5. At its 195th meeting held on 20.7.2010, the Standing Finance Committee of the Institute decided against the creation of a new post of Central Vigilance Officer and resolved that the work of Central Vigilance Officer should also be assigned to the officer, joining the newly created post of Deputy Secretary of AIIMS. The Governing Body and Institute body of AIIMS headed by the Union Health Minister ratified the decision of the Standing Finance Committee. 6. An order dated 23.6.2011 was issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare enumerating the duties pertaining to the said post of Deputy ....
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....rsons, who had earlier showered praises on the respondent no.1 turned against him for extraneous reasons, particularly his role in exposing corruption. 13. Being aggrieved, the respondent no.1 filed an application being O.A. No.1887 of 2015 before the Principal Bench of the CAT at Delhi, inter alia, for directions on the concerned authorities to allocate the work of Deputy Secretary to the respondent no.1. The said application has been dismissed by a judgment and order dated 17.5.2016. 14. The respondent no.1 has alleged that the duties of Central Vigilance Officer were withdrawn from him as he had unearthed irregularities and corruption in infrastructure projects. The nature or reasons for the disputes between the respondent no.1 and the appellant are not relevant to the issues involved in this appeal. 15. A memorandum dated 7.1.2016 was served on the respondent no.1, informing him that the Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences had placed on record his displeasure with insubordination, indiscipline and lack of work ethics of the respondent no.1 during the Winter Session of Parliament in the year 2015, and directed that a copy of the said memorandum be ke....
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....f the year 2015-16 whereupon an interim order was passed in favour of the respondent no.1 on 18.9.2017, by a Division Bench of the Tribunal, the operative part whereof is set out hereinbelow:- "Matter be posted for further hearing on interim relief on 03.10.2017. Respondents shall file their reply before the said date. In the meantime, in the interest of justice, it is directed that if any matter related to the career progression of the applicant comes up for consideration before the terms of the impugned orders shall not be taken into account while assessing and the applicant's suitability or fitness and he shall be considered on the basis of the rest of his ACRs/APARs. 22. The Union of India filed an application before the Chairman of the Tribunal being PT 316 /2017 seeking transfer of OA No. 331/00790/2017 to the Principal Bench at Delhi. By an ex parte order dated 18.9.2017 passed in the said transfer application, the Chairman of the CAT, sitting singly, stayed proceedings in OA No.331/00790/2017 pending before a two member Bench at Nainital for a period of six weeks, and directed that notice be issued to the respondent no.1. 23. Challenging the aforesaid order o....
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....1 refuted the submission that the appellant had not been heard by the High Court, arguing that the appellant had duly been represented by Shri Rakesh Thapliyal, Additional Solicitor General of India. He submitted that, as per the rules of the High Court an advance copy of the writ petition had also been served on the Additional Solicitor General Shri Rakesh Thapliyal. The Additional Solicitor General and senior government counsel had been representing both Union of India and AIIMS in the High Court as well as in Nainital Bench of CAT where the Union of India and AIIMS had jointly filed reply through counsel for Union of India. 30. Counsel appearing for the Respondent no.1 emphatically argued that the Chairman of CAT sitting singly had no power under the Act to stay the proceedings in a part-heard matter before a Division Bench of the same Tribunal. It was trite that a body created by statute could only have those powers provided by statute and nothing more. 31. Counsel for the respondent no.1 further argued that the appellant had filed O.A No.331/790 of 2017 pursuant to the order of the Division Bench of the High Court, in the writ petition filed by the respondent no.1, being....
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....ction with regard to erroneous recording of appearances, or the authority of the learned Additional Solicitor General of India to represent the AIIMS ought to have been urged before the High Court by making an appropriate application. The objection to the appearances of the Additional Solicitor General, representing the Central government in the same proceedings, is prima facie preposterous, considering that the AIIMS is under full control of the Central Government. It is, however, not for this Court to examine whether the learned Additional Solicitor General of India had been authorized to appear before the High Court on behalf of AIIMS or not. 38. The judgments of this Court in Munna Lal Karosia vs. State of Madhya Pradesh and Others [(2012) 12 SCC 255] and Association of Synthetic Fibre Industries vs. Apollo Tyres Limited and Others [(2010) 13 SCC 735], cited by the appellant to argue that a final order ought not be passed by the High Court against any person without giving that person an opportunity of hearing, have no application in the facts and circumstances of this case, since the appellant had apparently been represented by the Additional Solicitor General. The judgment....
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.... Tribunals, like ordinary law courts are bound by rules of evidence and procedure as laid down under the law under which the Tribunal is constituted and/or the rules and regulations framed thereunder and are required to determine the lis brought before them strictly in accordance with the law. 46. The preamble to the Act states the object of the Act, which is to provide for adjudication or trial by Administrative Tribunals, of disputes and complaints in respect of recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to public services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or of any State or of any local or other authority within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India or of any corporation owned or controlled by the Government, in pursuance of Article 323A of the Constitution of India and for the matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. 47. The reference by Counsel for the appellant to the Preamble of the Act is of no relevance. The respondent no.1 approached the Tribunal for redressal of his grievances. His case was heard by a Division Bench and a reasoned interim order passed on 18.9.2017. The preamble, which st....
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....ses of cases as the Chairman may by general or special order specify: Provided that if at any stage of the hearing of any such case or matter it appears to the Chairman or such Member that the case or matter is of such a nature that it ought to be heard by a Bench consisting of two Members, the case or matter may be transferred by the Chairman or, as the case may be, referred to him for transfer to, such Bench as the Chairman may deem fit. (7) Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the Benches of the Central Administrative Tribunal shall ordinarily sit at New Delhi (which shall be known as the principal Bench), Allahabad, Calcutta, Madras, New Bombay and at such other places as the Central Government may, by notification, specify. (8) Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the places at which the principal Bench and other Benches of a State Administrative Tribunal shall ordinarily sit shall be such as the State Government may, by notification, specify. xxx xxx xxx xxx 24. Conditions as to making of interim orders. - Notwithstanding anything contained in any other provisions of this Act or in any other law for the time being in force, ....
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.... Chairman to transfer a Member from one Bench to another Bench, and Section 5(4)(c) enables the Chairman to authorize the Judicial Member or the Administrative Member of one Bench to discharge the duties and functions of Judicial Member or Administrative Member, as the case may be, of any other Bench. The Chairman can also constitute Benches of more than two Members having regard to the nature of the cases involved, by issuance of general or special orders. 52. Section 5(6) enables the Chairman or any other Member authorized by the Chairman to function as a Single Bench and exercise jurisdiction, powers and authority of the Tribunal in respect of such classes of cases or such matters pertaining to such classes of cases as the Chairman may by general or special order specify. 53. The proviso to Section 5(c) of the Act states that if at any stage of hearing of any such case or matter it appears to the Chairman or the Member functioning singly that the case or matter is of such a nature that it ought to be heard by a Bench consisting of two Members, the case or matter may be transferred by the Chairman, or as the case may be, referred to him for transfer to such Bench as the Cha....
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....roceedings, their being no power conferred on the Chairman under the said section to pass such interim stay. 60. Power under Section 24 to grant interim orders has been conferred on the Tribunal, and/or in other words, a Bench of the Tribunal in seisin of proceedings in respect of which the Bench is entitled to exercise the jurisdiction and powers of the Tribunal. 61. A Tribunal created under the Act as also its Chairman derives its powers from the Act and can only exercise such powers as are conferred by the Act. The Chairman of the Tribunal exercising its power under Section 25 of the Act does not function as a Tribunal. The proposition that the power to grant interim relief must expressly be provided by statute finds support from the judgment of the Supreme Court in Morgan Stanley Mutual Fund vs. Kartick Das [(1994) 4 SCC 225] . The Chairman of CAT does not have power under Section 25 to pass any interim order of stay of proceedings pending before a Bench of the Tribunal. 62. A careful reading of the provisions of the Act and in particular Sections 14 and 15 thereof in juxtaposition with Article 323A of the Constitution leaves no manner of doubt that an Administrative T....
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....as taken by the Supreme Court in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. vs. Mumbai Shramik Sangha & Ors. [(2001) 4 SCC 448] . A five Judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court observed that the decision of a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court would bind a Bench of two judges of the Supreme Court and that judicial discipline obliged them to follow it, regardless of their doubts about its correctness. 67. It is true that the interim order passed by a Court does not operate as a precedent and the law declared by the Supreme Court with regard to the precedential value of judgments of Benches of larger strength may not operate as a binding precedent in the facts and circumstances of this case. The judgments referred to in the preceding paragraphs lay down the norms of judicial decorum and propriety which give precedence to Benches of higher strength. There is no reason at all why the same principles should not apply even to interim orders in pending proceedings. 68. An interim order passed by a court, on consideration of the prima facie case made out by an applicant, should ordinarily have been vacated by a Bench of coordinate strength after giving open notice to the applicant.....
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....rging the duty of deciding vires of statutory provisions, Tribunals cannot act as substitute for the High Courts and the Supreme Court. Their function is supplementary and all such decision of the Tribunals would be subject to scrutiny before the Division Bench of the respective High Courts. 71. In L. Chandra Kumar (supra) this Court held that whenever any question involving the interpretation of a statutory provision or rule in relation to Constitution arose for consideration of a Single Bench of the Administrative Tribunal, the provision to Section 5(6) would automatically apply and the Chairman or the member concerned would be obliged to refer the matter to a Bench consisting of at least two members one of whom must be a judicial member. This would ensure that questions involving vires of statutory provisions or rules would never arise for adjudication before a Single Member Bench or a Bench which does not consist of a judicial member. So construed, Section 5(6) would no longer be susceptible to charges of unconstitutionality and, therefore, valid and constitutional. 72. In Dr. Mahabal Ram vs. Indian Council of Agricultural Research and Others [(1994) 2 SCC 401], the Supre....